Conventional wisdom in the exercise world is that you should lift heavier weights if you want to get bigger muscles. This may cause some personal trainers and strength coaches to emphasize higher loads of training for clients and athletes who want or need to increase muscle size. However, a 2012 research that was published in the Journal of Applied Physiology questioned that notion. Kinesiology researcher Stuart M. Phillips, PhD, from McMaster University, who led the study, and his team stated that there is very little evidence that heavier loads can induce higher muscle hypertrophy than lighter loads.

Hip-hop, breakdancing, and salsa were three of my favorite types of dance in my twenties and even today. I loved them so much that I would take classes and go out to clubs and dance socials three to four times a week. I also feared that I would not be able to dance as well once I hit age 33 or 35. While I am not certain where this fear came from, I suspect that culture and the media has something to do with it.

The Frameworks Institute recently published a report that compares what aging experts and the general public say about aging and elderly adults. The public's perspective of aging is something to be feared and fought back rather than embraced and accepted. Aging is a “process of deterioration, dependency, reduced potential, family dispersal and digital incompetence” rather than “self-sufficiency, staying active, participating in leisure activities, and building intimacy with family and friends.” The American public also holds an “Us vs. Them” mentality that demarcates the elderly as being different from “the rest of us.” Rather than adopting a shared responsibility of helping the elderly with their well-being, the public generally believes that individuals are held responsible for their current state of health and lifestyle.

Given the weight of the evidence that correlates age with the prevalence of rotator cuffs tears and other shoulder “abnormalities” that are asymptomatic, not everyone who has these structural issues experiences pain or has a loss of normal function. Thus, clients and patients who were diagnosed with such abnormalities should not jump to conclusions and be alarmed that they need to be “fixed” or treated with surgery or other interventions. Each person's case is unique and manual therapists and trainers should consider each case individually and not box them into a category based on their diagnosis.

Clear communication among the patients and clients, therapists and trainers, and physicians are vital to ensure that patients and clients do not pursue unnecessary and costly treatments that may do more harm than good. With this understanding of asymptomatic shoulders, therapists and trainers are likely to find the right methods to help their clients or patients to function and move better without pain.